Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Cure for the "Boyfriend Sweater"

We all have heard the curse of the boyfriend sweater. Women and men around the globe recoil at its name; all knitter's know someone who has suffered the curse. For years people have tried to talk it down, saying thing along the lines of: "It doesn't matter, I want to make it for him. It'll be okay, right?" We quietly sit by, listening, nodding along, knowing that he or she is about to bring the curse upon them. But once a knitter's decides to venture into "boyfriend sweater" territory, there is no talking them out of it.

Which bring me to this weekend's riff-raff symposium. Our newest member informed us that she is about to make Jared Flood's Cobblestone Sweater, the ultimate boyfriend sweater. I looked at her inquisitively, with a sense of dread, until she said, "I'm going to make it in my boyfriend's size so he can wear it too." She said this with no guilt or insecurity hanging behind her words, which can only mean one thing, she genuinely is making the sweater for herself, leaving the option for him to wear it.

I had a * head desk *, slaps forehead moment. OF COURSE! My hypothesis is thus, if you make the sweater for yourself the curse could be negated. The tricky part of my theory is that the knitter must sincerely be making the sweater for his/herself, with the boyfriend being a part-time wearer.

Years later, when you are admiring your knitwear modeled by your man, or wearing the sweater that you knit for yourself (boy or no boy present) you can feel happy about the presence of the garment and not have an abandoned lump of wooly resentment lurking in the back of your closet.

I feel I am on to something here, but fortunately, I won't be one to test it right now. BUT, Jared released another drool worthy pattern, Brownstone, intended for men, but is really unisex. I'll be making it in a size larger than my normal, for comfort, but if I do happen to have a boy later who wants to wear it I can hand it over...without the curse looking over my shoulder.

I think a new KAL is in order: The Cure for the Boyfriend Sweater KAL. What do we think?

1 comment:

A recent snippet:She: "Can I borrow your beige sweater?"He: "The expensive one?"She: "Yes, the expensive that is rotting in the drawer under the bed because you haven't worn it since I met you more than four years ago."He: "Yeah, okay."

And I'm supposed to knit that man a sweater?! I think not. It's mine, all mine--let HIM ask ME to borrow it!